Mother extradited to Los Angeles to face abduction charges

A former Hollywood resident who took her two sons to Europe and allegedly kept them there for more than 18 months in violation of custody orders with the boys’ fathers was extradited to the U.S. on Thursday to face felony charges, authorities said.

Maria Pfeifer — who had an international warrant against her — was extradited under FBI supervision after she was arrested by French authorities late last year in the town of Divonne les Bains near the Swiss border. The 32-year-old Slovakian native was the focus of an international manhunt involving the Los Angeles Police Department, the FBI and European authorities after police say she took her young boys on what began as an authorized trip to central Europe in June 2012 and then didn’t return as scheduled.

A French judge in December ordered that the half-brothers be returned to their fathers — former Hollywood Records president Robert Pfeifer of Laurel Canyon and voiceover agent Larry Hummel of Beverly Hills — who are Maria Pfeifer’s ex-husbands.

“I believe Sasha should have both a mother and a father in his life but at the same time I’m terrified of re-abduction,” Larry Hummel said of his 5-year-old son Sasha.

Each of the fathers had shared custody of their son when the mother took her children to Slovakia on vacation in 2012 but were awarded full custody after charges were filed against her.

“There’s no good result for Jerry,” said Robert Pfeifer, father of 10-year-old Robert “Jerry” Pfeifer. “No child wants to see their parent in prison, and what’s worse, if she’s free, he feels threatened. That’s the dichotomy here.”

The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office filed felony criminal charges in August against Maria Pfeifer for two counts of “child detention with right to custody” of the two boys. Both fathers said they now have restraining orders against the mother.

She could be arraigned as early as Friday at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center downtown, said LAPD Officer Michael Morris, who was the lead investigator on the case. If she bails out, her arraignment would likely be set for May 1, he said. Bail was initially set for $100,000, he said.

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“My goal is that she’s appropriately punished for the crime that’s committed,” Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Deanne Castorena said last month.

Maria Pfeifer faces up to three years and eight months in state prison if convicted, Castorena said. The Van Nuys-based attorneys said to be representing her did not return calls Thursday.

Changed their appearance

At their French school in Divonne les Bains, Sasha and Jerry were enrolled under false identities — Elie Skoda and Milosh Skoda respectively — and were called by their classmates by their new first names, according to the French ruling. They also went through a physical transformation, including growing their hair long, which could have led to misunderstandings about their gender, the ruling said.

Since the mother and her children left the U.S., she visited different areas of several countries but mainly France and Germany, settling down in Divonne les Bains in February of last year,

According to French court documents, Maria Pfeifer argued that her decision to stay in Europe was dictated by violence Sasha had suffered from his father, Larry Hummel, shortly before their departure — something the father said is a lie — and that the dad was psychologically fragile. But the court found that “no evidence has been produced that Sasha was in any danger at the time from his father,” the French ruling stated. The judge found that the boy was likely to find emotional security with his father.

Similarly, another French ruling found that “Jerry is likely to find emotional security with his father” and that it was “not apparent from any evidence adduced that Jerry was at any time found to be in danger with his father,” according to a professional translation of the ruling. The boy also said he also wanted “to continue to maintain ties with his mother,” the ruling stated.

FBI Agent Michael Hess, in a U.S. Federal District Court charge filed against Maria Pfeifer in September, said the mother stated in an email to a relative that Larry Hummel had threatened to take her to court to take the boy away from her just as she said Robert Pfeifer had done.

“Trust me, in case I had returned there after the summer, I would have been taken to the courts and I would lose my mind,” Maria Pfeifer wrote, according to the federal document. “Can you imagine, going from court to court almost daily for years of your life?”

The mother indicated she was aware that she was in violation of the custody orders and was deliberately avoiding returning to California. She wrote at length of the numerous court appearances and legal costs she had to pay, describing herself as a victim of the fathers’ repeated attempts to the take the boys away, the document said.